Rakuten Kobo Inc., the global eBook brand has adopted Arabic as a primary browsing language for users. Acquired by Tokyo-based Rakuten, Japan’s ecommerce giant in 2012, and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Kobo enables millions of readers worldwide to read anytime, anywhere, and on the device of their choice.
The announcement was made by Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn during a keynote speech at the first International Congress of Arab Publishing and Creative Industries, organised by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), during the ongoing Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2022.
The second largest eReader brand in the world, Rakuten Kobo aims to enhance the eBook sales sector in the Middle East region and develop a thriving, wide-scale digital market for publishing books. Tamblyn also discussed ways on starting an independent digital market using eBook conversions, collection and distribution, self publishing, audio book production, and global distribution. He also discussed on the importance and need of government support for eBook platforms.
Rakuten Kobo hosts around seven million titles in 76 languages, delivering eBooks to 190 countries worldwide.
